Brand Activation, Social media and Public Relations will play a key role this festive season:

 Brand Managers and Marketing managers will be kind to me but not the Advertising and Media buying agencies. With the slowing down of the economy and unpredictable business climate, marketers will be cautious and will not go full hog spending monies using mass media. Also I have learnt that growth in flat panel TVs, which was rocketing along at over 25 per cent a year back, has plunged to the low single digits. The same is true in the case of air-conditioners and appliances where the sales have shrunk. Some of the brands in the refrigerator and air-conditioner space had a tough period this summer.  All these indicators will force marketers to balance their spends very judiciously before this festive season. As the festivity begins in next 6 weeks brand managers must be evaluating their advertising and media strategy with a tooth comb to ensure that they spend judiciously and get the maximum buck for every penny invested. Companies in the Consumer durables and Auto segment will be using less of mass media as the margins are tight. Instead the emphasis will be to woo dealers with good returns and spend a lot on experiential marketing where they need to keep constantly engaging with the target audience at various touch points. Even in the other segments there will be a dip in the spend levels as efforts may be diverted more towards active consumer engagement programs and promotional contests to keep the buzz alive with the audience.  So let us wade through the various communication tools that will come in action at the market place this festive season.

Mass media may be curtailed:

You cannot avoid or ignore this medium totally as you need to achieve your reach and generate some awareness. We might see marketers using mass media more for promotional offers and tactical announcements. Use of theme or brand communication may take a back seat and the focus will be more towards promotional based TVC’s. One can also expect short duration of TVC’s and smaller size of advertisement in print publications. There are no big ticket sporting events apart from the Olympics for marketers to buy television spots. This will also lead to little reluctance to restrict the use of Television as a medium by brands. Advertising agencies and creative shops will have a tougher challenge of creating interesting creative and impactful communication as marketers will tightly control their media exposure to get great visibility from the various piece of communication that they generate.

 Brand Activation will be used at the right touch points:

The normal yardstick one uses to catch the audience is to be present on high reach program or prime time program when it comes to mass media. Similarly one will have to strategize and identify strong touch points to engage the audience face to face. Again your brand activation will have to be based on strong ideas which will be sticky and entice the audience and at the same time fall under the brand values of the product and its architecture. This year I expect lot of brands tying up with Pooja and Ganesh Mandals in the East and West and engage with the worshippers in the most intriguing and interesting manner. I can visualize ideas such as miniature Ganesh idol of Lal baug Ganesh being marketed as a memento with some brand connect there. Similarly one can look at some ice-cream making session in shopping malls in conjunction with a refrigerator brand. Auto brands may tie up with driving school to give free learning and training session for first time car buyers who needs driving lessons.  More such similar activation is what will drive marketers to achieve their targets and keep their margins intact.

Social Media and Public Relations will play a key role:

Apart from running promotions and contest to engage with the customers on social media we can expect new thoughts and fresh ideas to happen. Budgets will be directed to give consumers better in-store experience through strong merchandising, creative product display and live demonstration. Digital media will also play a very active role in the consumer decision as they will help the consumer explore and evaluate which product is better. This can be in the form of DEMOMERCIALS where a longer version of the product demos produced on low budget explaining the product in detail. This can be telecasted on You tube with the relevant link. Such detailed demo can help the customer to narrow the decision before he finally goes to the dealer outlet and take closer look to test the product. Public relations will also play an active support to address the traditional media. Here again the focus will be more in class II town and downwards to sustain the momentum during the festive period. If marketers are able to bring in innovative products with great features public relations can help them leverage good visibility and mileage for the brand. And for some reasons if there are no great features are benefit for the product to offer then you will have to rope in brand ambassadors to attract media and get good photo opportunity for the brand.